20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006

Odds and sods live collection issued to coincide with the release of the Oklahoma band's Fearless Freaks film, the record also features a studio rarity and, uh, "Free Radicals".

"Hello again everybody, this is Wayne...This CD that you're listening to is a kind of revamped version of a compilation that we gave out at the South by Southwest film premier of Brad Beesley's documentary The Fearless Freaks. That CD was received with such delight that we felt a little embarrassed at having manufactured so few of them. So, like, I said, this is a revised version of that previous CD with a couple of changes made. There is a track from our new record, At War With the Mystics, this song is called "Free Radicals." You'll find that on here..." --"Wayne's Intro"

...What the fuck? Here I am, hoping to hear a history of the Flaming Lips' much-lauded live performances, and instead I get frontman Wayne Coyne reading me what could be the album's one-sheet (plus an extensive thank-you to the fans) over a homey acoustic instrumental. Coyne's explanatory monologue casts 20 Years of Weird as a casual affair, and it's an extremely appropriate introduction; those looking for a live retrospective that does justice to the Flaming Lips' formidable history had best look elsewhere.

So, like he said, 20 Years of Weird is being issued to coincide with the Lips' new full-length At War With the Mystics. The inclusion of the dreadful album track "Free Radicals" immediately dates this compilation as-- like the bizarre remaster of Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica right before the release of its follow-up-- a dubious release that can't decide if it wants to be an in-depth live document or a shameless promo trinket.

Between "Wayne's Intro" and "Free Radicals", 20 Years of Weird gets off to a frustrating start. Thankfully, one of the compilation's best moments, studio rarity "Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear", follows these two questionable inclusions. With a simple, repeating melody and slight variations on a central (and fairly obvious) lyrical theme, the song plays kind of like a more subdued version of "The Spiderbite Song" from The Soft Bulletin. True to its title, "Enthusiasm for Life" chooses comfort over deep angst; lyrics like "Last night I had a horrible dream/ But your smile in the morning came and took it all away" come off as subtly smile-inducing, but expertly avoid syrupy self-seriousness.

The rest of 20 Years of Weird consists of decent-quality recordings spanning the band's history, from early psychedelic jams to a document of one of the 1996 "parking lot experiments," in which Coyne conducted pre-recorded tapes playing in a number of car stereos. The recordings are generally so-so in quality-- there's a lot of crowd noise, the drums clip, and the vocal levels are inconsistent. But every once in a while something transcendent does manage to emerge from the cacophony, especially towards the compilation's end. A 12-minute take on "When You Smile" segueing into "Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles" is the most interesting inclusion, showcasing a sloppy and frenetic energy that has been largely absent from the band's current three-piece incarnation.

The real irony here is that the Flaming Lips have always operated under such a keen awareness of how limited the sound of a rock show can be. From fan-hugging furries to garbage bags full of inflated balloons to in-the-ear headphones simulcasting the show, the Flaming Lips have employed just about every conceivable strategy to enhance the live experience for their fans. Their 4xCD album Zaireeka proved the band more than willing to extend such sonic experiments to their recorded output. Whatever the future holds, the Flaming Lips have a proud history of taking their fans seriously; 20 Years of Weird does an okay job of telling that history, but does little to show it.